


Her First Stop

by melrosie



Category: Captain Marvel (2019)
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-12
Updated: 2019-03-12
Packaged: 2019-11-16 05:04:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18087965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melrosie/pseuds/melrosie
Summary: Maria and Carol dress up (with a bit of Monica's help) for an evening out at Poncho's. Their first evening back in a long time.





	Her First Stop

**Author's Note:**

> A prompt written for @ HALTHEROBOT on tumblr.

This had been her first stop. Flashes of memory, little moments. Of playing the arcade games, of sitting in a booth with Maria with those heavy beer mugs, of singing... of singing  _karaoke_... laughter, spontaneity, community, love. 

This had been her first stop. It hadn’t been full of people at that time of day. Only one man had been there. The man she’d asked about the picture on the wall. He hadn’t spoken more than five words to her before Agent Fury had come in. She hadn’t been sure of him yet, at that point. 

Maria had wanted one thing, and that was to go back to Poncho’s and have an evening out. A stolen opportunity among the chaos of their lives. Of Carol’s life. The chaos for Maria (and Monica by extension) would calm down now. Which is the only thing Carol can be glad for, because this kind of calm also means safe.

A loose grey t-shirt, high waisted dark wash jeans, a bulky belt that Maira lent her, a blue scrunchy to put her hair in a ponytail, and some boots called Doc Martens that Maria had kept in storage and still fit Carol. That was the outfit Monica and Maria had helped put together for her tonight. Maria had also dressed up a little. Black jeans, a fitted pastel purple tank top short enough to show a hint of her midriff and a purple, yellow and teal-y green bomber jacket with some Adidas sneakers.

It doesn’t feel familiar to Carol, the clothes, the colours. But the smile on Maria’s face and the excitement in the way Monica explains the fashion to her makes her feel warm and content, and tugs faintly at the strings of her injured memory.

It occurs to Carol as they pull up in Maria’s car, that she’d broken something inside during her first sit-down with Fury. She can’t remember what it is though. 

“A music player... you stick a coin in it and choose a song.” 

“You broke the _jukebox_?” 

“So that’s what it’s called?” 

She’d get a side-eye from Maria, but the smile on her face tells Carol everything she needs to know. “C’mon then, I wanna see if the charred thing is still in there or if they threw it out already.” 

So Carol tags along, a few steps behind Maria, who loops their arms as they step into the noisy and much more crowded bar. 

Men and women alike are playing darts and pool, a few are huddled around the arcade games, others sit at tables talking loudly and drinking and eating. Carol’s gaze is immediately drawn to the jukebox. Or at least, to where it had been. It seems it's been replaced with a shiny new one, but the scorch marks she’d left are still visible on the floor and wall like a frame around the new machine.

“Looks like they replaced it,” Carol says, but finds herself pausing. “Or...” 

“Do you think...?” Maria raises a brow, and mouths ‘Fury’. 

Carol raises both her brows in surprise. 

“Y’know what I think that’s entirely possible.” 

Maria shakes her head. “Go snag that booth over there, I’ll get the drinks. What do you want?” 

That stops Carol short. What does she want? She remembers sharing beers with her here. But her memory doesn’t go so deep as to tell her what beer tastes like, or what anything tastes like. She only remembers Kree food, Kree drinks. It’s all muddled up in her head still. 

“I don’t know. Whatever I used to like?” 

She can see a flicker of sadness on Maria’s face, but it quickly turns into a reassuring smile. 

“I gotchu.” She points toward a booth, and Carol shoots her two thumbs up as she makes her way over and slips in on one side. There’s a menu. Laminated. She picks it up and it makes a sort of _wub wub_ sound when it shakes, she does it again, _wub wub wub_ , and gives an amused sound before soberly holding it with both hands and looking for something appealing to eat. 

At least here these dishes sound familiar and are explained to her. Earth may seem foreign to her, but things are beginning to come back. Like her general understanding of meat. She thinks she’ll order some chicken tenders.

Maria returns with two mugs and sets one down in front of Carol. 

“This was a favourite. Hopefully having an alien blood transfusion and eating alien food for six years hasn’t changed you pallet too much.” She shrugs as she slides into the booth opposite Carol and holds up the mug. “Cheers.” 

Carol knows this one, she holds her glass up and clinks it gently against Maria’s. “Cheers.” 

They both drink. 

Carol puts down her mug. 

“Well?” Maria asks, putting down her mug as well. 

Carol pulls a face, and Maria’s expression breaks into a grin. 

“It tastes like rubber?” Carol tries to articulate the taste and takes another thoughtful mouthful. She pulls the same face. “Meh, my taste buds aren’t singing but I think it could grow on me.” 

“We can try other things,” Maria says amusedly. 

“Bring it on, what do you recommend?” 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, comments are genuinely appreciated!  
> To send prompts or to request a personalized fanfic you can find me @ LOUISEMILLER on tumblr.


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